For centuries, manufacturers have measured the dimensions of their parts by taking measurements before and after certain experiments. Engineering of such testing systems may include product engineering, design development, and machine building services. For manufacturing concerns, conventional dimensional testing has occurred before and after various tests, including thermal and corrosion testing, to act as a comparison between the dimensions of the manufactured piece before and after being subjected to the thermal or corrosion testing. These comparisons provide the dimensional changes that occur as a result of heating, cooling, or after being subjected to various environments.
Over the years, such non-contact testing methods have evolved, but they still only provide data before and after. Data has not been yet taken during the test. Heretofore, systems have not been developed that could accurately provide the three dimensional coordinates of an object to an accuracy that yielded useable test data.
To add a new dimension to the test results, either frequently intermittent or fully continuous test data during the testing procedures would be very helpful to most product engineers. Those product engineers would welcome the ability to make dynamic data acquisitions inside a controlled climate chamber that will provide three dimensional measurements before, during and after testing so that they can see the complete picture of what happens to the dimensions of their product during exposure to elemental changes inside the chamber. “During” results may be taken at any desirable frequency, whether intermittent, frequently intermittent or continuous, thereby generating very desirable new test data. Correlating all this data into a computer generated report that shows a true picture of the dimensional changes that the product undergoes during a controlled climate change is most desirable.